Within just three days of going live (as of October 12, 2021), this online document's main sheet had over 100,000 views, collected 1,173 data entries, and had more than 1,000 concurrent viewers. And it's still being updated.
The sheet doesn't just list start and end times and weekly workdays—it also includes lunch/dinner breaks, whether Wednesday or Friday is special, and whether weekly/daily reports are required. It's a treasure trove for new grads and workers alike.
How '996' Are China's Big Tech Companies?
We did a rough count: as of publication, the sheet covers over 1,300 companies, with the majority being internet companies (1,200+). The rest—foreign firms, finance (including banks), and other non-tech, non-financial private companies—each have fewer than 100 entries. (Categories overlap, so numbers may vary.)
Among internet companies, Tencent employees contributed the most—186 entries—followed by Alibaba and ByteDance.
Here's a quick breakdown of the major tech firms:
- Tencent, Alibaba, ByteDance, Meituan, Baidu, Didi, Kuaishou, Xiaomi: Most employees work 10am to 9pm. But the intensity varies. Xiaomi has many lucky departments that leave before 9pm, while Tencent, Alibaba, ByteDance, Meituan, and Didi have a much higher proportion leaving after 10pm.
- JD.com and Huawei: Most work 9am to 9pm. Huawei is more intense: JD has some departments leaving at 8pm, but Huawei almost always works until 10pm. Interestingly, one JD employee reported that Friday is their "most overtime-heavy day", not an early-leave day like in other departments.
Is there any big tech company with better work-life balance? NetEase starts at 9:30am for most, but compared to others' 9-10pm finishes, a notable number of NetEase employees leave at 7-8pm. So, relatively better?
Overall, JD.com, Huawei, and ByteDance have the longest hours; NetEase is slightly better. The rest are similar. Bilibili stands out: they don't have a Friday early-leave perk because they basically work 10am to 7pm—every day feels like Friday.
One notable absence: Pinduoduo has only 5 entries.
From those 5 entries, Pinduoduo employees mostly start at 11am, but 3 out of 5 leave at 10-11pm—so the "11-11-6" (11am-11pm, 6 days a week) seems to persist. Most big tech firms work 5 days a week, but a few departments still have 996 (9am-9pm, 6 days).
Foreign Companies: Real Work-Life Balance?
Looking at the top 4 foreign firms by data volume—Microsoft, Shopee, Ericsson, and VMware—they show much more regular hours.
Most employees start between 9-10am and leave between 6-7pm—a solid 8-hour workday. Microsoft Suzhou's M365 department starts at 10:30am and can leave as early as 5:30pm. However, even within Microsoft, a Beijing software development department can work until 11pm. Foreign firms also care less about reports: only 5 out of 19 require weekly/daily/monthly reports, and 2 only require them during onboarding.
Initiated by Four New Grads
The sheet's creators are all new graduates (Chinese: 校招生). The project, named "WokerLivesMatter" on GitHub, is maintained by four recent graduates going through internet autumn recruitment. The youngest was born in 2001, the oldest in 1996. They met online in a recruitment group and decided to create a real, detailed work-hours database for fellow new grads.
Their reason: having interned at big tech companies, they saw the widespread 996 culture and the lack of transparency about working hours. For new grads choosing offers, work hours are a critical factor.
"So we created this sheet to share information. We know 996 is wrong, but it exists. Even the 996.ICU movement didn't change much. But we want to contribute, even if it's futile. Do what you can, speak up. Be a firefly in the dark."
On the GitHub page, the authors wrote, "This project relies on the selfless contributions of workers." Anyone can add their department's schedule via a questionnaire link, which auto-updates the sheet.
The authors received lots of help and suggestions. For example, the questionnaire method was suggested by a user named @richar after the sheet was maliciously edited. The discussion area already has dozens of comments. Two of the three official QQ groups (2,000 members each) are full.
Han Jun, a Microsoft software engineer who created the "955.WLB" list (companies with work-life balance), praised the project: "This sheet complements the 955 list well by providing department-level detail. It's very valuable!"
"I'm glad to see a new wave! This sheet fills the gaps in the 955 list. Precision to the department level is a great reference. Special thanks to the creators and maintainers!"
Many viewers confirmed the data is mostly accurate, but the authors admit there's no verification mechanism yet. They plan to add features like limiting submissions per person or a voting system, similar to offeeshow.
As mentioned, the document was once reported and taken down.
The authors say they'll continue researching and adjusting the project to keep it alive legally and serve workers.
What do you think? Any suggestions?
Wishing all workers work-life balance. Work hard, live well.
Document link: https://docs.qq.com/sheet/DVmhnRG15TG1Tb2Js
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